Live He Shall
by Galacticlone
Summary: A tiny dork of a Vortian and a tall beautiful Irken fall for one another in the heart of a cold research station. When that spark is snuffed out by tragedy, he remembers he is a man of his word...and he will keep his promise. (Bittersweet one-shot).


Hello and thank you for picking up this one-shot! I had read another little fic featuring Lard Nar and Miyuki as a couple, so I wanted to explore that a bit in this bittersweet mess I've made. I really liked the idea of this ship, and there's not a lot of content for it, so I hope you enjoy, and I really do appreciate reviews, even if they're quick and small. Thank you!

**Rated T for suggestive content and light mentions of sexual activity.**

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Lard Nar hadn't been invited to the funeral. It was official business, a time for great mourning and heartbreak for the Irken public and the Armada, and he understood that. He had watched from the research station on Vort as her armor was held up on stage for all to see, polished to perfection and glinting in the powerful light of Irk's sun, a bitter and tangible reminder of the magnificent leader that once filled it. She was gone. His everything…faded to dust. Her biological body could not be recovered from the belly of the beast that had consumed her, so her breastplate was obliterated instead, charged particles shot out into the stars to be reabsorbed by the vast, beautiful universe that had once birthed them all.

Lard Nar had cried his eyes raw, more than once, as he watched the last remaining memory of her physical form drift away. He would never see those gorgeous cerulean orbs again or hear that lilting voice bouncing through the engineering deck as she observed his team's progress on the Massive. He would never speak privately with her again. She would never laugh into the morning with him over their many long-distance calls, and he would never feel her strong arms hoist him up from the ground to eye level as she grinned. Eye level had been important to her; she viewed him as her equal and wanted him to know that. His colleagues would tell him to go home with sympathetic whispers and soft fingers grazing over his sobbing shoulders, to get some rest before he drove himself mad, but all he could do for the first few weeks since the accident was slump over his desk and remember her soft, endearing smile. If only he had seen it coming…if only he hadn't been a coward and run after her…maybe they would have been together. Maybe things would have been different.

Everyone knew she was interested from the start. She would always stop by the station when she made her routine rounds on Vort, but never had the desire to talk to anyone other than Lard Nar. She would seek him out, nervously at first, bring him little things she had found on her trips through the star system and thought he would like, and grin down at him with that perky smile when he would agree to eat with her on his lunch break. She was Tallest; it wasn't like he had a choice in the beginning. She was a woman of science, incredibly intelligent and just as benevolent, intrigued wholly by what Lard Nar had to say and hanging on every word and equation that poured from his mouth like she couldn't get enough. Soon, their relationship blossomed into a kindhearted friendship that had the other scientists of the station reeling and overflowing with jealousy. Lard Nar didn't care. They would laugh together in a way only friends could, the notion of her rank dissolving through his fingers behind closed doors when she would snort at his stupid engineering jokes and retaliate with even cheesier ones of her own. It would go on for hours, her distracting him from his work and him calling her after she left to distract her from hers. It was raw and empowering, a fluttering weightlessness that they both shared that transcended the social laws of inter-species connection. It was beautiful.

She had made the first move, hanging around particularly late as Lard Nar's team left for the evening. She had caught him on his way out and stooped to her knees, relinquishing her height to be one with his before running her long fingers tentatively over his narrow shoulders as she drew close. He let it happen, let her taste him. It was wrong, and they both knew that, but neither of them cared as soft lips moved against one another and breathing quickened. She was Tallest; she deserved someone of equal height and rank, but she had chosen someone not even half her height for his intelligence and kind words. He saw her for who she was, not for who the Empire wanted her to be, a resilient, independent, infinitely clever scientist who had hit a growth spurt and had no idea what she was doing or how she had ended up where she was. He loved her supple lips, her warm hands on his horns as her breathing hitched, the perfect silky skin of her lithe, slender thighs beneath her robes. She was flawless; everything he had ever dreamed of and more. It was strange with the height difference, but they had figured it out as they went along, substituting slender fingers and tongues and getting lost in the intimate, visceral feeling of mind-numbing friction and giggling when her knees would bump his horns or when they wouldn't quite line up right. It was all secret, all hushed and hidden in the murky shadows of the sidelines, becoming a delicious monthly ritual when she would force herself to leave and count the days until she could return and do it all over again.

It went on for cycles, secret dates and amorous words exchanged in the safety of his office or the closed doors of her flagship. Undisclosed touches and warm-bodied cuddles in the pale morning light and profound talks about life in the evening. Lard Nar was content and so was she, until the tiptoeing and hushed voices became too much. It wasn't like everyone hadn't suspected anyway when she would stroll across the bridge with a warmhearted smile plastered on her face after visiting Vort or a fading bloom of a bruise peaking from under her collar. He made her happy, and no one dared question that. She wanted to make it official to the public, to show everyone that inter-species affections weren't a crime but instead a beautiful example of how love transcended planets and leapt across galaxies; how it was not a construct of biology but a figment of pulses beating in tandem and souls entwining. Lard Nar was apprehensive at first, afraid she would ruin her approval ratings for something so trivial as him; she was Irken and he was Vortian. He was the bottom of the barrel and she was the peak of the highest mountaintop. But, this wasn't trivial was it? This was the future…_their_ future. The night she had asked was the night they had both cried salty tears together on the edge of her bed, throwing themselves in an embrace so deep they feared they would never be able to let go.

The day of her arrival marked the day of her downfall. Lard Nar had waited weeks to see her again and had become incredibly distracted from his work the more he thought about a single question hanging on his mind. He would reach into the deep pocket of his coat and run his fingers across the smooth silver of the ring he kept close to his heart, trying in a desperate fugue to piece together some semblance of thought as to how he would ask. Would she…would she say yes? What if she said no? What if he had misread her need to go public and was moving too quickly for her taste? What if he pushed her away and he lost her for good?

_What if…?_

The question had graced his mind so often it sounded like white noise. No…she would say yes. She would say yes and they would leave this place together and never be apart again. He had collected his courage with shaky hands as the sound of her ship's booming thrusters entered the atmosphere outside and he made his way to the main hatch. He had willed his breathing and erratic pulse to calm as he ran over the words again and again in his head, a profound sense of peace washing over him as the sound of her expensive boots clicking beyond the hatch and ringing out like his favorite song. She had kneeled when he took her hand in his, fingers clamped to her mouth as she gasped, warm tears streaking down her cheeks as he got down on one knee and finally popped the question.

_Miyuki, will you marry me?_

Everyone had stared in disbelief, jaws slack and eyes wide when she had broken out in giddy laughter and hoisted him up, spinning them around as she sang and choked happily on her words.

_Yes! Yes! A thousand times yes!_

The ring had fit like a glove and Lard Nar had burst into tears the moment he slipped it on and she held it up to the light. Perfection. Everything about her…the dorky overbite she tried to conceal, the twinkle in her oceanic eyes as she ran over lines of engineering code, the adorable way she snored softly in her sleep and denied it the next morning. She was his. He was hers. They would never be apart…she would be his wife.

Piercing alarm bells had rung out and bounced through the engineering bay as explosions ripped through sector three. She had been brave, acting on her powerful instinct to protect before running towards the danger as Lard Nar shouted frantically after her. That was just how she was…she could never leave anyone behind no matter the cost. He had watched as she disappeared into the thick black smoke, cowering against the wall as deep growls and throaty snarls echoed around him. He couldn't do it. The fear of the unknown was too much, freezing him in place and forcing him to shake in his boots. Then, he heard her scream. On a whim, his petrifying fear had dissolved and he had shot forward, batting desperately at the smoke blinding and stinging his eyes.

_No…please. No. Please! No! Please!_

Reflex overcame him and bubbled up in his chest as he rounded corners and stumbled blindly through the fleeing crowd his fiancé had freed from the razor-sharp clutches of a horrific science experiment gone wrong. He had called through the mayhem, cried her name until his voice was hoarse and he could barely speak. The hole torn in the ceiling had said it all and shattered his heart into a million jagged pieces. There was no sign of the monster…no sign of that beautiful smile. She was gone.

He refused to believe it at first, screaming out his agony and gut-wrenching suffering as he dug frantically through the wreckage, desperate for any sign she was somehow still breathing. He had thrown charred metal to the side, burned his fingers on sparking wires, and cut his knees on what was left of the mangled rafters. His colleagues had to drag him away as he wailed, fighting and kicking until he was too weak and slumped into their arms as he bawled. His everything…his whole life and the entirety of his heart…gone.

It had taken a few days to sift through the crime scene as her advisory team was called in to interrogate all those who witnessed the carnage. Because of her bravery, over forty scientists and engineers had escaped with their lives, but Lard Nar was left with only a ghost of his. He couldn't eat, couldn't sleep, couldn't force the sound of her last moments from his mind. Everywhere he looked, there she was, staring back with those wide eyes and calling out to him with that soft, ethereal voice. The Control Brains had wasted no time in appointing a new leader, electing Spork to office from the Elite. Lard Nar had hated him the moment he ascended to the rank of Tallest and knew she would too. He had set to work unraveling the social programs she had instilled, dismantling her legacy one building block at a time. None of it mattered anymore. Lard Nar had the chance to marry the woman of his dreams. He had a chance to sleep next to her every night and watch her yawn groggily over early morning coffee. He had a chance to maybe start a family with her and be a father, fulfilling her wishes to live and raise a child somehow like a Vortian mother could. But now…now she was gone and he was nothing.

Then there was the present. Spork had asked Lard Nar to remain at the research station for her funeral, afraid that his presence would taint his pure image of an all-Irken Empire. No more tears would come as Lard Nar slumped against his desk, only a numb ache in the pit of his chest.

"Um…excuse me? Are you Lard Nar?" A gentle voice called from the doorway, followed by a faint knocking.

He didn't look up and refused to nod, recognizing the voice as one of many from her personal cabinet of advisors. There was an audible swallow of discomfort followed by the sound of hands digging into pockets.

"We reviewed the video footage of the incident, sir, and we wanted you to know that Almighty Tallest Miyuki left this behind for you."

Lard Nar blinked. Left…behind…for him? He glanced up and squinted against the bright light flooding through the open hatch, shielding his puffy eyes as the advisor moved forward and placed a tiny object on the edge of his desk before shuffling his feet awkwardly.

"She held it up and smiled to the camera before…well…you know. The team wanted to keep it as evidence, but I wanted to abide by her wishes and leave it with you. Just…don't tell anyone." The advisor paused. "I…I'm sorry for your loss."

With that he turned and exited the way he came, closing the hatch with a soft click and leaving Lard Nar behind in the stifling darkness he had trapped himself in. All he could do was stare down at the tiny object, renewing the flood of tears boiling over inside him as he reached out with unsteady hands and ran it over in his palms.

_Oh, love...I should have known you'd do something like this._

For the first time in weeks, he felt a grin break the depression consuming him and allowed a breathy chuckle to slip. He let his eyes drift shut and held his fiancé's ring close to his chest, feeling her profound, world-shattering love chip away and break down the walls he had thrown up around himself. It was her final act of kindness to him, an eternal promise of undying devotion that would forever be theirs and theirs alone. She was gone, but she would always be with him. Even if her body was gone, her endearing voice and fleeting touch lived on in his memories. She was still there...he knew that now.

He hopped up from his seat and wiped his eyes on the back of his sleeve, shoving the ring in his pocket before turning to the door with a smile. She would always be there; always be with him. He had made a promise and he was a man of his word…he had promised his hand to her. He had promised his world to her. And...he had promised his _life_ to her.

And so live he shall.


End file.
